Caption: Synchrotron particle accelerator. This view shows the circular shape of the magnets and other equipment surrounding the particle beam tube (not seen). This is the synchrophasotron at Russia's United Nuclear Research Institute. A sychrophasotron is a type of synchrotron that accelerates protons. A synchrotron is a circular accelerator that accelerates particles by using strong electric and magnetic fields. Particle accelerators are used to accelerate particles to produce high-energy collisions. The results help physicists understand the structure of matter and the origins of the universe. Photographed in 1986, in Dubna, in the Moscow region of Russia.